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Rant Man here, telling all you Hockey Week followers that the show will resume after my short vacation away from the region, but I never took a break from following the excitement of NHL hockey.

Things are heating up, and the most fun will come in the finish of the 2007-2008 regular season. The playoffs, most notably called the "Second Season", is going to be an enigmatic setup in who will play who considering the spots are not as secure as one would think. The fun and excitement come at the top of the standings and the "bubble" region of 7th and 8th place for both conferences. Coming up this week on HurstTV and a special video-podcast, I'll lead off the discussion with Johnny B. on where things are going as we dip into the last two weeks of the regular season. Teams like Buffalo, Washington, and even TORONTO are pushing to crack open the standings and try to squeeze out the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins. Though the Flyers are on an upward swing, the Bruins are on a downward fall as Marc Savard is announced to miss at least two games with a lower back injury. Considering Boston and Buffalo have all divisional games remaining, it could come down to a photo finish for the two who may even see the Washington Capitals bypass both into the 8th spot.

On the other side of the NHL world, the Western Conference is looking just the same as Nashville, Edmonton, and Chicago are sitting on the bubble of possibly squeezing by the struggling Colorado Avalanche and the coming around Vancouver Canucks squad. The dynamic of the West is actually more complex than the East considering teams aren't pulling away as much in that end of the hockey world. 5th place to 8th are within few points of one another, and the fact that teams are soaring upward like the Oilers, anyone can fall out to allow others to move in.

We'll discuss it ALL! Scenarios of who may see the post-season and who will not can be seen here on video-podcast and HurstTV!